Lady Bulldogs stay hot over weekend and in Thermopolis

The Lovell Lady Bulldogs improved to 8-4 overall after a strong showing at the Rawlins Invitational last weekend.

“There was a lot of volleyball in a short amount of time,” head coach Tera Kostelecky said. “It was the team’s goal to make it to the gold bracket on Saturday.”

After an early morning of traveling, the Lady Bulldogs faced off in pool play matches against Torrington, Lander and Douglas.

The team came out strong, taking down Torrington 21–16 and 21-16, then swept Lander 21-15, 21-15.

Against a talented Douglas team, the Lady Bulldogs grew tired and ran out of steam, falling 21-14, 21-14.

Lovell did well enough to be placed in the gold bracket (top two teams from each pool) on Saturday that paired them against Mountain View in the first round.

After a slow start, dropping the first set 21-13, the Lady Bulldogs dug deep and fought back to win 23-21 in the second and 16-14 in the third.

“Saturday was a huge success as we blocked very well,” Kostelecky said. “That allows us to play our perimeter defense, which works well for us since we don’t have a ton of height.”

The victory landed Lovell versus Wheatland in a match that again went to a third set battle.

Wheatland took a commanding lead after winning set one, 21-10, before the Lady Bulldogs took the second 21-17, forcing the deciding set.

Some early errors provided the advantage Wheatland needed to win 15-9.

“We have a scrappy desire to keep the ball off our side of the floor,” Kostelecky said. 

In the final game of the tournament, Lovell took on the Lady Panthers from Powell.

Powell won the match after Lovell won the first set 21-19 then fell 21-19 and 15-5.

On the weekend, Celeste Lindsay dominated at the net with 29 kills and 22 blocks while Libby Mickelson added 23 kills, 12 blocks and an ace.

Chaylee Betancourt also had 18 kills, 13 blocks and three aces, and Raegan May ended with 16 kills, five blocks and three aces.

Breeah Jones finished with 14 kills and 14 blocks, and Kennadee Owens had 13 kills and eight blocks for the Lady Bulldogs.

Kenadee Rael and Kira Collins handled the setting duties for Lovell while Kindle Collins controlled the team’s defense as libero.

“We competed against every team we faced,” Kostelecky said proudly of her team. “We realize we can compete with anyone, and we will continue to climb.”

“I am super proud of the girls, and each and every one of them are growing within themselves and each other into their roles.”

The Lady Bulldogs junior varsity won the gold bracket championship on Saturday in Rawlins after defeating Jackson, Lyman and Wheatland.

BUFFALO

The Lovell freshman squad traveled to Buffalo on Saturday for the Buffalo Freshman Invitational.

The Lady Bulldogs earned the title of Buffalo tournament champions without dropping a set on the day.

Lovell took down Sheridan 20-12, 20-15, then Thermopolis 20-7, 20-11 and Douglas 20-12, 20-8 in pool play.

In the gold bracket, Lovell walked through Powell 15-8 and 15-10 to advance to play Buffalo for the championship, winning 15-8 and 15-2.

THERMOP

The Lady Bulldogs travelled to Thermopolis on Tuesday evening to face the Lady Bobcats and Lovell walked away with wins at all three levels.

The freshmen won 25-13 and 25-11 while the junior varsity took care of business 25-16, 25-22.

During the varsity match, all sets were tight with Lovell taking the first 25-23, dropping the second 25-21, then coming back
to win the next two 26-24 and 25-17.

COMING UP

The Lady Bulldogs will host new 3A opponents from Cody tonight (Thursday) for the first conference games of the season beginning at 4, 5, and 6 p.m.

“We know we can compete with them and have some short-term goals that we are pushing for,” Kostelecky said.

The teams will then travel to Tongue River on Saturday for another set of games before facing Rocky Mountain at home for homecoming week on Tuesday.

“We look at the season as a marathon, not a sprint,” Kostelecky said. “We are seeing success but not settling for being just good enough.”